# Band Wagon (album)

Band Wagon is the debut solo album of Japanese musician Shigeru Suzuki, released by Panam/Crown on May 25, 1975. It was recorded in Los Angeles, California with American musicians. Two singles were released from the album "The Smell of August"/"Snow Express" and "100-Watt Lover", both in 1975.

## Background and recording

Shigeru Suzuki's first solo album followed the disbanding of Happy End and the formation of Tin Pan Alley with Haruomi Hosono and Masataka Matsutoya. The musician said Band Wagon had a production budget of 6.4 million yen. It was recorded in Los Angeles because studio rental fees were cheaper in America than in Japan.
Suzuki's fellow Happy End bandmate Takashi Matsumoto wrote the lyrics to all of the songs. Matsumoto said that Suzuki gave him free rein, and that he wrote the lyrics a bit like the ones he had written for their former band. Because he was recording in America, Suzuki would convey a song to Matsumoto in Japan, such as the melodies and number of words he wanted, via long-distance telephone call, then wait about a week for Matsumoto to relay the lyrics to him the same way. The lyricist said him doing this for just the lyrics to only a single song would incur a phone bill of ¥50,000 to ¥60,000.
Band Wagon features American musicians from notable acts such as Little Feat, Santana and Sly and the Family Stone. Suzuki had previously worked with Bill Payne, Dick Hyde and Kirby Johnson on Happy End's final album.
The track "Woman in the Dunes" was named after the novel of the same name and its film adaptation. Matsumoto cited it as his favorite song.

## Touring and live recordings

To tour the record, Suzuki formed the band Huckleback (ハックルバック, sometimes written as "Hucklebuck"), consisting of keyboardist Hiroshi Sato, bassist Akihiro Tanaka, and drummer Toshiaki Hayashi. The group played around 10 shows, before disbanding on November 16, 1975.
Live recordings from the tour appear on 2008's Shigeru Suzuki History Box - Crown Years 1974–1979 box set. In 2014, Suzuki performed Band Wagon in its entry for his Get Back Sessions Special "Band Wagon" Live concert video. It peaked at number 272 on Oricon's DVD chart. A 2-disc live album recorded during the original 1975 tour on April 4 and May 15 was released on September 23, 2015 under the title 1975 Live.

## Track listing

All lyrics are written by Takashi Matsumoto; all music is composed by Shigeru Suzuki.

## Personnel

According to 2008 re-release CD booklet:
* Shigeru Suzuki – all vocals & guitar, string synthesizer on track 9
* Bill Payne – acoustic piano on tracks 2, 5, 6, 8 & 9, electric piano on tracks 3 & 4
* Don Grusin – keyboards on tracks 1 & 7, clavinet on track 3
* Wendy Haas – clavinet on tracks 5 & 6, string synthesizer on track 6
* Doug Rauch – bass on tracks 1–3, 5–7 & 9
* Ken Gradney – bass on tracks 4 & 8
* Greg Errico – drums on tracks 3, 5, 6 & 9
* David Garibaldi – drums on tracks 1, 2 & 7
* Richie Hayward – drums on tracks 4 & 8
* Sam Clayton – congas on tracks 4 & 8
* Gene Goe – trumpet on track 2
* Pete Christlieb – tenor saxophone on track 2
* Dick Slyde Hyde – trombone on tracks 2
* Kirby Johnson – horn arrangements on tracks 2, 3, 7 & 9

### Technical

* Dane Butcher – engineer
* Mike Boshears – recording engineer
* Bernie Grundman – mastering engineer